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<h1>"He said, 'he said'," he said.</h1>

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<ol>
<li><a href="#part1">Performing an action on a subordinate clause</a></li>
<li><a href="#part2">The direct quote</a></li>
<li><a href="#part3">The interpreted quote</a></li>
<li><a href="#part4">Using 「って」 as a casual version of 「と」</a></li>
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<h2 id="part1">Performing an action on a subordinate clause</h2>
In the section about <a href="subclause.html">modifying subordinate clauses</a>, we learned how to treat a subordinate clause like an adjective to directly
modify a noun.  We will extend the functionality of subordinate clauses by learning how to perform an action on a subordinate clause.  Obviously, we cannot simply
attach the 「を」 particle to a subordinate clause because the 「を」 particle only applies to noun phrases.  We need something to encapsulate the
subordinate clause into a unit that we can perform actions on.  This is done by making a quoted phrase.

<p>While in English, you can just add quotes and a comma to make a quotation, Japanese requires attaching 「と」 at the end of the quote.  This is
completely different from the <a href="particles3.html#part2">「と」 particle</a> and the <a href="conditional.html#part2">「と」 conditional</a>.
Unlike quotes in English, we can perform many different types of actions on the
quote besides the standard "he said", "she said", etc.  For example, we can perform the action, "to think" or "to hear" to produce phrases such as, "I think [subclause]" or "I heard [subclause]"
This is very important in Japanese because Japanese people seldom affirm definite statements.
This also why we will have to eventually cover many other types of grammar to <a href="certainty.html">express uncertainty or probability</a>.
</p>

<h2 id="part2">The direct quote</h2>
We'll learn the simplest type of quoted phrase, which is the direct quote.  Basically, you are directly quoting something that was said.
This is done by simply enclosing the statement in quotes, adding 「と」 and then inserting the appropriate verb.  The most common verbs associated
with a direct quote would be 「<span title="いう - to say" class="popup">言う</span>」 and 「<span title="きく - to ask, to hear" class="popup">聞く</span>」 but you may use any verbs related
to direct quotation such as: 「<span title="さけぶ - to scream" class="popup">叫ぶ</span>」, 「<span title="よぶ - to call" class="popup">呼ぶ</span>」, 「<span title="つぶやく - to mutter" class="popup">呟く</span>」, etc.
This type of quotation is often used for dialogue in novels and other narrative works.

<h3>Examples</h3>
<p>
（１）　アリスが、<em>「<span title="さむい - cold" class="popup">寒い</span>」と</em><span title="いう - to say" class="popup">言った</span>。
<br />- Alice said, "Cold".
</p>

<p>
（２）　<em>「<span title="きょう - today" class="popup">今日</span>は<span title="じゅぎょう - class" class="popup">授業</span>が<span title="ある - to exist (inanimate)" class="popup">ない</span>」と</em><span title="せんせい - teacher" class="popup">先生</span>から<span title="きく - to ask, to hear" class="popup">聞いた</span>んだけど。<br />- It is that I heard from the teacher, "There is no class today."
</p>

<p>The verb does not need to be directly connected to the subordinate clause.  As long as the verb that applies to the subordinate clause comes before any other verb, you can have any number of adjectives, adverbs or nouns in between.
</p>

<p>
（１）　<em>「<span title="さむい - cold" class="popup">寒い</span>」と</em>アリスが<span title="たなか - Tanaka" class="popup">田中</span>に<em><span title="いう - to say" class="popup">言った</span></em>。<br />- "Cold," Alice said to Tanaka.
</p>

<h2 id="part3">The interpreted quote</h2>
The second type of quote is the quote along the lines of what someone actually said.  It's not a word-for-word quote.  Since this is not a
direct quote, no quotations are needed.  You can also express thoughts as an interpreted quote as well.  By using this and the verb 「<span title="おもう - to think" class="popup">思う</span>」 you can
say you think that something is so-and-so.  You will hear Japanese people use this all the time.  You can also use the verb 「<span title="かんがえる - to ponder" class="popup">考える</span>」 when you
are considering something.

<h3>Examples</h3>
<p>
（１）　<span title="せんせい - teacher" class="popup">先生</span>から<em><span title="きょう - today" class="popup">今日</span>は<span title="じゅぎょう - class" class="popup">授業</span>が<span title="ある - to exist (inanimate)" class="popup">ない</span>と</em><span title="きく - to ask, to hear" class="popup">聞いた</span>んだけど。
<br />- I heard from the teacher that there is no class today.
</p>

<p>（２）　<span title="これ - this" class="popup">これ</span>は、<span title="にほんご - Japanese language" class="popup">日本語</span>で<em><span title="なん - what" class="popup">何</span>と</em><span title="いう - to say" class="popup">言います</span>か。<br />- What do you call this in Japanese? (lit: About this, what do you say in Japanese?)
</p>

<p>
（３）　<span title="わたし - me, myself, I" class="popup">私</span>は、アリス<em>と<span title="いう - to say" class="popup">言います</span></em>。<br />- I am called Alice. (lit: As for me, you say Alice.)
</p>

<p>In an interpreted quote, the meaning of 「<span title="いう - to say" class="popup">言う</span>」 may change as you see in examples （２） and （３）.  Actually, as you can see from the literal translation,
the meaning remains the same in Japanese but changes only when translated to normal English. (We'll learn more about various ways to use 「<span title="いう - to say" class="popup">いう</span>」 in the <a href="define.html">next lesson</a>.)
</p>

<p>
Here are some examples of thoughts being used as quoted subordinate clauses. In example （５）, the <a href="question.html#part3">question marker</a> is used with the <a href="desire.html#part4">volitional</a> to insert an embedded question.
</p>

<p>
（４）　<span title="カレー - curry" class="popup">カレー</span>を<span title="たべる - to eat" class="popup">食べよう</span><em>と<span title="おもう - to think" class="popup">思った</span></em>けど、<span title="たべる - to eat" class="popup">食べる</span><span title="じかん - time" class="popup">時間</span>が<span title="ある - to exist (inanimate)" class="popup">なかった</span>。
<br />- I thought about setting out to eat curry but I didn't have time to eat.
</p>

<p>
（５）　<span title="いま - now" class="popup">今</span>、<span title="どこ - where" class="popup">どこ</span>に<span title="いく - to go" class="popup">行こう</span>か<em>と<span title="かんがえる - to ponder" class="popup">考えている</span></em>。
<br />- Now, I'm considering where to set out to go.

<p>
Unlike the direct quotation, which you can just copy as is, if the quoted subordinate clause is a state-of-being for a noun or na-adjective, you have to
explicitly include the declarative 「だ」 to show this.
</p>

<p>（１）　<span title="かれ - he" class="popup">彼</span>は、<span title="これ - this" class="popup">これ</span>は<span title="なん - what" class="popup">何</span><em>だと</em><span title="いう - to say" class="popup">言いました</span>か。
<br />- What did he say this <em>is</em>?
</p>

<p>
（２）　<span title="かれ - he" class="popup">彼</span>は<span title="こうこうせい - high school student" class="popup">高校生</span><em>だと</em><span title="きく - to ask, to hear" class="popup">聞いた</span>けど、<span title="しんじる - to believe" class="popup">信じられない</span>。
<br />- I heard that he <em>is</em> a high school student but I can't believe it.
</p>

<p>Notice how 「だ」 was added to explicitly declare the state-of-being that is highlighted in the English translation. You can really see how important the 「だ」 is here by comparing the following two sentences.
</p>

<p>（A）　<span title="これ - this" class="popup">これ</span>は<span title="なん - what" class="popup">何</span><em>だと</em><span title="いう - to say" class="popup">言いました</span>か。
<br />- What did [he] say this <em>is</em>?
</p>

<p>
（B）　<span title="なん - what" class="popup">何</span><em>と</em><span title="いう - to say" class="popup">言いました</span>か。
<br />- What did [he] say?
</p>


<h2 id="part4">Using 「って」 as a casual version of 「と」</h2>
You may be surprised to hear that there is a shorter and casual version of the quoted subordinate clause since it's already only one hiragana
character, 「と」.  However, the important point here is that by using this casual shortcut, you can drop the rest of the sentence and hope your audience can
understand everything from context.

<h3>Examples</h3>
<p>（１）　<span title="ともこ - Tomoko" class="popup">智子</span>は<span title="らいねん - next year" class="popup">来年</span>、<span title="かいがい - overseas" class="popup">海外</span>に<span title="いく - to go" class="popup">行く</span>んだ<em>って</em>。
<br />- Tomoko said that she's going overseas next year.
</p>
<p>（２）　<span title="もう - already" class="popup">もう</span>お<span title="おかね - money" class="popup">金</span>が<span title="ある - to exist (inanimate)" class="popup">ない</span><em>って</em>。
<br />- I already told you I have no money.
</p>
<p>（３）　え？<span title="なん - what" class="popup">何</span>だ<em>って</em>？
<br />- Huh? What did you say?
</p>
<p>（４）　<span title="いま - now" class="popup">今</span>、<span title="じかん - time" class="popup">時間</span>が<span title="ある - to exist (inanimate)" class="popup">ない</span><em>って</em><span title="きく - to ask, to hear" class="popup">聞いた</span>んだけど、<span title="ほんとう - really" class="popup">本当</span>？
<br />- I heard you don't have time now, is that true?
</p>
<p>（５）　<span title="いま - now" class="popup">今</span>、<span title="じかん - time" class="popup">時間</span>が<span title="ある - to exist (inanimate)" class="popup">ない</span><em>って</em>、<span title="ほんとう - really" class="popup">本当</span>？
<br />- You don't have time now (I heard), is that true?
</p>
<p>「って」 can also be used to talk about practically anything, not just to quote something that was said. You can hear 「って」 being used just about everywhere in casual
speech. Most of the time it is used in place of the 「は」 particle to simply bring up a topic.
</p>

<h3>Examples</h3>
<p>（１）　<span title="あした - tomorrow" class="popup">明日</span><em>って</em>、<span title="あめ - rain" class="popup">雨</span>が<span title="ふる - to precipitate" class="popup">降るん</span>だ<em>って</em>。
<br />- About tomorrow, I hear that it's going to rain.
</p>
<p>（２）　アリス<em>って</em>、<span title="すごい - to a great extent" class="popup">すごく</span><span title="いい - good" class="popup">いい</span><span title="ひと - person" class="popup">人</span>でしょ？
<br />- About Alice, she's a very good person, right?
</p>

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<div class="small" style="text-align:right;"><pre>This page has last been revised on 2006/9/10
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